Jess Cummings.

I grew up in a rural town of 600 people, where information was harder to access and opportunities weren't equally distributed. That gap, between the people who have access and the people who don't, is what brought me to design.

In college at the University of Michigan, I found civic tech and accessibility. I learned that the interfaces people use every day can either include or exclude, and that the difference usually comes down to whether a designer asked the right questions. As the first person in my family to graduate college, I know firsthand what it means when systems aren't built with you in mind.

Now I'm in Detroit, designing platforms that turn complexity into clarity — fleet dashboards for Bridgestone, field trip tools for K-12 schools, and brand systems for automotive startups. I care about making things that are beautiful AND functional, because I don't think you should have to choose.